Guiyang County has long been known as the “kingdom of flue-cured tobacco”, which has a long history of tobacco planting. The total output for the county ranks third in China and first in Hunan Province. In 2021, there are 10,139 households planting tobacco, with the actual planting area reaching 193,600 mu (about 12,907 hectares).

 

The flue-cured tobaccos are the main source of income for local tobacco farmers. In order to improve the technology in curing the tobacco leaves and promote energy conservation and pollution reduction, the local government has made joint efforts with local tobacco enterprises to pilot the project of building electric baking rooms in multiple towns such as Fangyuan Town and Ouyanghai Town.

 

“In the past, we cured the tobacco leaves with coals, which would cost 1,400 yuan for just one room, and it required lots of manpower.” Hu said that now it only costs 800 yuan for a room to bake the tobacco leaves with electricity, saving over 40% of the cost. This year, he plants 20 mu (about 1.3 hectares) of tobacco, which is expected to increase an income by over 10,000 yuan.

 

In addition to the economic benefits, it also brings considerable ecological benefits. After the renovation of curing rooms, it has seen a dramatic decline in the emission of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. As a type of clean energy, electricity will not generate any carbon emission in production.

 

 

“Previously, we had to check the temperature and humidity every two or three hours each day, which was quite hard for us, and the flue-cured tobacco leaves varied in quality.” Hu said happily that the electric-baking rooms in which the temperature is controlled intelligently, helping save much time and labour for them.

 

To ensure stable supply of electricity for the electric tobacco-baking rooms, Guiyang Power Supply Company of the State Grid Corporation of China has made tremendous efforts to improve the supporting power grid, so as to promote the construction of the electric-baking rooms.

 

Looking at the golden electric-baked tobacco leaves, Hu laughs and firmly believes that he will embrace a better life in the future.